Sense of entitlement to the benefit system

[user1482079332]

I might be abit antagonistic here but wondered if my opinion is shared at all. I grew up on welfare, Very poor at times no food or electricity. Fast forward, Im now a single mum getting ready to go back to work. I have been offered a job full time that will mean I earn alot more in the future, it's worth the short term sacrifice of juggling it all and being skint for awhile . Prior to this I was making arrangements to go back to work part time in a very low paying job. I couldn't get over how much I would receive in benefits working only 16hours a week. There was very little financial incentive to work full time and admittedly if I didn't have this job opportunity I would more than likely stay part time and receive enough in benefits that's I'm on equivalent my previous full time job salary before I had a baby. I can't help but think this creates dependency and entitlement. I had a friend recently earn more and she complained that her benefits had been reduced as a result. I think the benefits system in this country Is a mess and there should be more incentive to work full time than part time if your fit and well.

Visit >
www.entitledto.co.uk/
Plug your circumstances in, plug your friends in, the lady across the road. Play with the scenarios.
Find the truth.

My house hasn't been decorated in 9 years. I haven't had a holiday abroad for 11 years. The poster earlier must be the height of frugality as I don't drink or smoke either. I don't see any holidays coming out of what I have coming in and going out each month. With no family members or help from the ex whatsoever I am always skint.

I have also started only buying second hand clothes for me or I wouldn't be able to buy myself an occasional top etc. I am no longer buying brand new unless it is for ds.

I don't understand where my MIL is going wrong. She has a part-time job, one child at school with SN (so gets extra for him), one at uni and one disabled adult son still living at home. She is run ragged and always skint. She lives somewhere cheap, doesn't run a car, shops in cheap places and never has enough for new clothes. If it wasn't for her grown up working kids she would never survive. What else should she be applying for??

Nicketynac perhaps it is the high cost of food and other life essentials have you never thought of that? It isn't a question of applying for benefits and getting one's maximum it is a matter of squeezing out a way of funding everything on insufficient funds. Cost of living in the UK and all that etc.

I can well imagine your MIL is run ragged if she has has two disabled children even if one is an adult she must be up against it where is your compassion and understanding? Perhaps she gets tired of the buck constantly stopping with her I know I do.

And what about people who had children while working full time, were financially stable and then became disabled and now can't work? Now NOT financially stable?

I am disabled. I worked full time for 23 years, right up to having DD2 and while on mat leave ended up with a spine injury. I was unable to return to my job and ended up on ESA. I was a single mum two years later after my partner became violent one time too many.

I met my dp five years ago and moved in with him with my DDs. He was working full time and supported us all. Then he had a serious road accident that left him unable to work for nearly 3 years. He has been trying to get back to work for the last year but his age (59) and his health (not great due to the accident) means that he is unable to get work that he used to do and is finding it so hard to find anything else.

Our 'massive' benefits total around £800 a month which includes my PIP and CTC and CB. My oldest is at uni and we still support her and pay maintenance for his youngest. Our rent is extortionate but we get no help due to the insurance payout from the accident which means we are rapidly using that to pay the rent. When that runs out we will no longer be able to stay in this house and will be homeless.

Yeah, it's fucking great being on benefits.

Same here. I had a wonderful career, was financially stable and became disabled. Now we face imminent homelessness. It's a pleasure.

inthe and mycats, i am so sorry to hear whats happened to you both, it goes to show that nobody can know what is round the corner and although we still have a welfare system, its not always easy to claim and not everybody is living it up on the money your entitled to have. People do have the ' im alright jack' attitude' - they dont see the bigger picture sometimes that life can turn on a sixpence.
sending you both a hug and wish you both well.

Polly I think you have misunderstood my post. I am not slagging MIL off - far from it.
She is quite open about her finances and I know how much she gets from various benefits and from her wages - it isn't much. I don't see how some people manage to have holidays etc when she struggles to pay for electricity. She lives a frugal life, cycles instead of using public transport etc, any treats (and some essentials) are paid for by her older children. There must be something she is missing out on.

Hi again Nickeytnac my guess is your MIL does not get child maintenance from the father/s of the children. I do get some from my ex but he isn't a high earner so it isn't a lot.

Perhaps also her rent/mortgage is high ....? I can't complain there as I have a weeny weeny mortgage but even so I do feel I am constantly watching money.

Nicketynac

Not many families on benefits can afford holidays. Those who can it seems its because of maintenance payments or disability benefits. Or because they save hard for them..over years.

Don't worry when uc comes in tax credits is being abolished so everyone working low income or fully on benefits will be fucked
Good isn't it

Of course lots of people will take advantage of working as little as possible or not at all and currently the system allows them too. The very fact that caps were needed said it all.

Household benefits in total should be less than one full time NMW and any in work benefits only paid where at least thirty hours are worked per adult in the household.

It would give children a future instead of them copying their parents and going on to make choices they can only afford if someone else is picking up the cost.

Rainbows do stop spouting nonsense, you always do it on benefits threads, despite being given the facts and figures on a regular basis.

I don't think welfare is too generous, I think the minimum wage is not enough to support a family on.

Nicketynac you can get a benefits check up for your MIL at CAB or try a site like entitledto.com

Most people I know on benefits cannot afford a holiday. I work part time and claim in work benefits and have saved for over a year for our 4 night summer holiday to Tenby this year.

Polly She was widowed about ten years ago so no maintenance. Rent is pretty cheap where we are
Horny I just get annoyed with other posters saying they have plenty of spare money from benefits and I know MIL has none, ever. I don't really think she should get so much as benefits to afford a fortnight in Florida, but it would be nice if she could afford a pair of winter boots. I don't know if other poster are lying or exaggerating but either way it's annoying.
She would love a job with extra hours, decent conditions, even slightly more than MW but she is in a rut with no way out. (Her last job didn't have a flushing toilet for about a month and she couldn't even complain for fear of being sacked and being in a worse situation.)
lagirafe I will get her to check it out. She is currently worried about the teenager changing from child to adult benefits (PIP maybe?) so it would be helpful.

Nick I have no idea how anyone on benefits affords holidays. I really don't know how they would manage it. I have been on benefits for the past three years. I haven't had a holiday for years and the last one was paid for by my lovely in-laws.

I am fortunate enough to be able to sign off benefits this week (hurrah) and for the first time ever we can afford a holiday this year. This is only because my husband has come into some money.

My son is autistic so I got extra benefits but STILL couldn't afford holidays. I suspect anyone saying they can pay for holidays while on benefits is either on the fiddle, has other income they are not declaring or have generous relatives. Benefits don't run to holidays, they just don't.

On a separate note though it might be worth your MIL looking at what the Local Offer says on her local council website. She might find there is additional support or one off funding there for certain things. I found an agency there who provided a male nurse buddy for DS who hates going out. He comes in once very two weeks for two hours and spends time with DS. We do have to make a nominal payment but the local authority provide additional funding which covers their fees. It's a couple of hours where DS gets social support that is lead by him,

Household benefits in total should be less than one full time NMW and any in work benefits only paid where at least thirty hours are worked per adult in the household.

Eh? They ARE. That's the whole point of the caps!

They also weren't needed by the way, thousands more goes unspent in unclaimed benefits every year.

Me and ds visit his dad twice a year plus his family in London. We borrow a flat in the family and the relative moves out for a few days but it costs me over £200 for 4-5 days in food expenses and travel fares so we only go down there twice a y ear. Plus train tickets.

Other than that we visit a friend in Norwich for a weekend in July once a year. Those are my 'holidays'.....

Household benefits in total should be less than one full time NMW and any in work benefits only paid where at least thirty hours are worked per adult in the household

So what do you propose happens to those who can't work, or that can't pay essential bills on this money?

Oh yes, of course there are food banks.
Attitudes like this leave a sickly feeling in my mouth, disgraceful.

Firstly "benefit claimants" include those who are chronically ill or disabled. PIP and ESA have been cut and cut again, and the indignity of trying to prove how ill/disabled you are and how much pain you are in is horrific. Many people having to claim have worked in the past and paid their NI.

^^this.

Unfortunatley, channels 4 and 5 don't show these claimants, only the workshy feckless.

I was working FT, paying taxes and NI, had a pension scheme, then became disabled. DC also so disabled iM now a fulltime carer for DC. Have to rely on benefits, (In excrutiating pain 24/7 but I don't claim PIP, only get carers cos of the bloody form filling faff that I cant cope with), and you know what? Im ashamed to be on benefits because of the stigma it gets and unforch there are too many out there who confirm that stigma.

pisses me off I work hard caring for DC and believe I earn every single penny I can get, but its not enough.

This is my only break in the day as DC asleep after medication. I cant sit around all day watching daytime tv on my arse all day.

there are GENUINE claimants and then theres the rest of them.

Nicketynac Get your mum to do a benefits check and have a look at grants for families with disabled children. Lots of people don't get the right premiums on their benefits, or are on the wrong rate of DLA or PIP. We get a grant every year from Family Fund which we sometimes use to pay for holidays. We can usually afford one holiday a year - either using that grant or sometimes we need the grant for something else but we manage to pay for a cheap holiday, e.g. using train ticket sales and Travelodge sales. In our family my DS and I are both severely disabled so we get DLA/PIP at the highest rates plus premiums, so we do manage OK on what we get and we don't have issues claiming or worries about sanctions. We have a council house due to high medical priority and the rent is paid in full. But obviously I'd much rather we were both healthy and had some hope of working and our own home in the future, and not entitled to benefits at all.